MYSTERY

The Good Sister

St. Martin’s. Apr. 2021. 320p. ISBN 9781250120953. $27.99. SUSPENSE
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Fraternal twins Rose and Fern Castle share all but three things: Rose’s diabetes, Fern’s sensory-processing difficulties, and their memories of how their mother raised them. As long as Fern can remember, Rose has been angry with their mother, accusing her of rages and neglect that Fern doesn’t recall. Rose has always taken care of Fern, steering her in the right direction when her social perceptions fail her. Fern trusts her implicitly. She knows that sisterhood is not perfect; it’s “both sunshine and guts, lollipops and blood, good and bad.” But when Fern meets a man who “gets” her—another person living on the margins of “normal” society—Rose moves to rescue her sister from certain disaster. How far will she go to keep Fern’s devotion? When details of a long-ago death are revealed, each sister knows what she must do to survive.
VERDICT Hepworth’s latest (after The Mother-in-Law) is written from one sister’s perspective with the other’s thoughts in diary form. It’s a warped tale of twisted memories and skewed perceptions that will make fans of psychological thrillers say, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”
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